


Couldn't Do This In Gen 1

by Eloarei



Category: One Piece
Genre: Luffy is a badass as usual, Multi, Pokemon - Freeform, cute little animals, love is in the air!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-08
Updated: 2012-11-08
Packaged: 2017-11-18 05:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/557207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eloarei/pseuds/Eloarei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Young Coby's Pokemon journey is at risk of being cut short when his Minccino meets gym leader Helmeppo's Snivy and decides it'd rather be a lover than a fighter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Couldn't Do This In Gen 1

Coby was downright amazed by Luffy, and rightly so. There the pink-haired boy was, about to be attacked by the scary fat Team Plasma lady who intended to steal his adorable Minccino. He'd have been in serious trouble if that strawhat teen hadn't come out of nowhere and punched the ugly lady and her equally hideous Patrat into the next town. 

He was pretty sure that was cheating, but it didn't make it any less impressive. 

“Thank you so much!” he said to the young man. “I don't know what I would have done if she'd taken my poor Coco. Ah, my name is Coby, by the way.” He blushed and hugged his Minccino closer. “We're just starting out on the gym challenge, but we're not much good yet.” 

“You're taking the gym challenge?” the young man asked, excited. “That's great, then you and I are rivals! Oh, but I'm going to be the Champion, so don't even bother. ...My name's Luffy, by the way.” 

Coby spent a few minutes stuttering about how crazy Luffy was, and how the Champion was the best pokemon trainer in the _world_ and how that dream was clearly _impossible_ , before Luffy shrugged it off and said, “Well, I'm going to the next town. You coming?” And that was pretty much the end of Coby's whining. Besides, he figured, anyone who had the guts to punch out Team Plasma could probably do anything. 

A few random battles later (in which Coby and Coco did pretty well, fighting traditionally and well within the rules, and Luffy did exceptionally by punching the stray creatures in the face), they had made it to the next town. 

“Look, there's the gym!” Coby said, stars in his eyes as he looked upon the building that housed the leader that held the badge which signified his first real step toward his dream. “Coco, let's do our best!”

Coco trilled cutely and they stepped forward towards the door of the gym, but then Coby had a very important thought, and turned back toward Luffy, who was following them inside, just as excited as they were. 

“Luffy! You're not going to fight the gym leader like that, are you? You need to get a pokemon in order to participate in the gym challenge!” 

The strawhat looked a little put-off but he shrugged and said, “Ok then.” So Coby followed him into the tall grass so that the teen could find his first pokemon partner. 

They hadn't seen any good pokemon for a few minutes, and Coby was about to offer his assistance when suddenly he heard a scuffling noise behind him. He turned around to find Luffy holding a green Pawniard in a headlock. 

“Be my nakama!” he was saying, a broad grin on his face. The little creature was struggling, but almost looked like it was enjoying the tussle. This went on for a good few minutes before Luffy sufficiently beat the thing into submission. It sat down on the ground and crossed its arms, puffing in exhaustion. 

“Alright!” Luffy crowed. “Now let's go!” 

But Coby shook his head. “Wait, you have to put it in the poke-ball first!” He handed the hasty young man one of his spares. 

“That's kind of stupid,” the strawhat teen said, but he took it anyway and held it out to the Pawniard. “Alright Zoro, get in!” 

The Pawniard stood up and crossed its arms, nodding dutifully. It stretched out its arm and tapped the button, then was sucked into the ball. Once it was in, Luffy pressed the button again and let it out, apparently pleased. “Ok, _now_ lets go!” 

Luffy was anxious, so Coby let him go first. The teen skipped right past the info-man at the door and strolled right into battle with the waiting trainers. The pink-haired boy was more formal, so he bowed to the man and declared, “We're here to challenge the steel-using leader, Captain Morgan!” 

The man laughed, leaning back against the Nidoking statue. “Sorry, you'll have to settle for fighting grass-type user Helmeppo. Morgan's been usurped.” 

Coby nodded. “Ok, as long as I can get a badge, I'll fight whoever it takes!” He ruffled Coco's fur and headed further into the gym. 

He beat a few minor trainers with relative ease, and by the time he got to the gym leader's platform he was feeling pretty confident. But watching the tail-end of Luffy's fight made him a little bit nervous. Not because he had any worry about beating Helmeppo, but because the sheer power the strawhat and his new partner exhibited was eye-opening. 

“Well that was easy,” Luffy said, his arms crossed nonchalantly. Zoro sat on top of the fainted Snivy and sharpened his arms against each other in a show of boredom. 

“Fine, take the badge,” the leader said with a pout, flipping the little pin like a coin. Luffy grabbed it out of the air with a grin and attached it to his hat. 

“Your turn, Coby,” he said to the boy, motioning for him to come forward and for the Pawniard to get off the poor half-dead Snivy. 

Helmeppo shuffled up to his pokemon with a grumble and opened its mouth to feed it a Revive. “Freakish bug-catcher,” he muttered. “That kind of strength isn't normal. And what is he doing with a freaking steel-type anyway? I hate steel types.” His Snivy looked up at him with a pout of its own as the man administered a super-potion. Sufficiently healed, the little snake leapt up to his master's shoulder and they straightened to a respectable pose, feigning over-confidence, as was apparently their style. “Bring on the next challenger.” 

Coby's Minccino squeaked excitedly from the boy's arms, urging him forward. “I'm here to challenge the leader of this gym,” Coby said, addressing Helmeppo unnecessarily formally, and causing the man to roll his eyes. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, his arms crossed. “Ok, Smugleaf, take out that puny Minccino in less than five minutes and we'll have _two_ desserts tonight!” The Snivy squeaked and popped off his shoulder, heading confidently to the center of the stage. 

“You can do it, Coco,” the pink-haired boy told his pokemon, giving it an affectionate squeeze before setting it down and nudging it towards the platform. 

Everything was in order, and the leader's assistant had pushed play on the cassette recorder, the epic battle music signaling the start of the fight, but there was one significant problem. Both Smugleaf and Coco had abandoned their battle stances when they came within striking distance of each other. Now the both of them were wagging their tails cutely. The Snivy was sporting a cute blush under its half-moon eyes, while the Minccino was holding its tail shyly, the fur around its neck puffed up. 

“Smugleaf, start with a Vine Whip!” Helmeppo commanded his pokemon. 

The little snake began to approach Coco, but far more slowly and gently than an attack would warrant. It met the Minccino in the middle of the stage and began to step lightly around it and stick its nose in the soft fur, while Coco made a noise that was undeniably the Poke-equivalent of a giggle. 

“Smugleaf, what is wrong with you?!” the leader yelled, tapping his foot impatiently. He rounded on Coby, standing on the other side of the arena. “You! What is your pokemon doing to my Snivy!?” 

Coby was just as confused as the leader, and the several random onlookers, at least one of whom was failing to stifle a snorting laugh. “I.. I don't know either!” he yelled back. He shouted a command to Coco, but the little creature was too busy fluttering its eyelashes at the Snivy to hear or care. 

Frustrated and flabbergasted, they stood around for a few minutes and watched the two young pokemon dance around each other like shy lovers. No manner of shouting or whistling could get either Coco or Smugleaf to snap out of the cutesy trance they were in. After glaring at his Snivy fruitlessly became too much for the gym leader, he wandered over to Coby. They frowned at each other in an expression of mutual defeat. 

“That's my only pokemon,” Helmeppo said, shooting said creature a nasty look over his shoulder. 

“Mine too,” Coby added apologetically. “But I can't go on without getting this badge.” 

The leader “hmph”ed. “Well I'm not going to just give it to you. Especially not considering the trouble your pokemon has caused for mine! He's never disobeyed me like this!” 

“I'm sorry,” Coby replied, although he didn't really think it was entirely his or his Minccino's fault. “Coco is usually so well-behaved. I guess it just decided it would rather be friends than fight.” 

Helmeppo raised an eyebrow at Coby, and then at the two cute creatures who were starting to get awkwardly close to each other. “...I don't think 'friends' quite cuts it.” 

The pink-haired boy turned to the leader with a look of disbelieving almost-horror on his face. “You don't mean--...?” 

The leader nodded. “You know where pokemon eggs come from, right?” He gave Coby an up-and-down look that said pretty clearly, 'Please tell me I'm not going to have to explain sex to you, kid.' 

“Of course!” Coby's face flushed to a shade resembling his hair. “I just never thought Coco would... you know.” 

Helmeppo nodded. “Same with Smugleaf. He never showed any interest in mating before. I guess it just takes meeting the right person.” He looked at the boy out of the corner of his eye, then realized his mistake. “Pokemon, I mean. Meeting the right pokemon.” 

There was nothing either of them could do, so they stood around and watched. When minutes had turned to more than half an hour, they sat. When an hour had gone by and even physically pulling the two apart didn't work (unless one counted mournful cries and screeches as success), the two trainers started looking into other options. 

“You could give it to me,” the gym leader suggested idly. “I'd take good care of it.” 

“I couldn't!” Coby gasped, horrified at the thought. “You wouldn't get rid of your Snivy, would you?” 

Helmeppo frowned. “I guess not. Wouldn't be much of a point in being a gym leader without my pokemon anyway.” 

“Then why don't you come with me?” The young trainer smiled innocently at the leader. “Then Coco and Smugleaf could stay together.”

“Are you seriously suggesting I leave my hard-earned post as a gym leader, just so my stupid lovesick pokemon doesn't have to part from his new _girlfriend_?! And what are you going to do if they have an egg?” 

“I'm not entirely sure Coco is a girl,” Coby mentioned, failing to answer Helmeppo's question. 

“That's not the point!” the gym leader shouted, clenching his fists. “I--! Wait, it's not a girl?” 

Coby shook his head. “It might be, I'm not sure. I never thought to check.” 

Helmeppo facepalmed hard; the resulting slap echoed around the nearly-empty gym (as everyone else had already left). “This is ridiculous. I can't just leave my post! And if your Minccino isn't a girl then they can't have eggs anyway, so it doesn't matter.” 

“That's not stopping them from trying,” Coby said, nodding in the creatures' direction before turning away respectfully. 

The exhausted gym leader buried his face in his hands. “If your stupid pokemon has turned my Snivy gay, I swear--.” 

The pink-haired boy didn't bother to respond to such a ridiculous accusation; he was pretty sure Helmeppo would calm down soon. As expected, it was only a few minutes before the leader sighed and turned to look at Coby out of the corner of his eye. “Fine,” he said glumly. “I'll go with you. ...Not like I have much of a choice.” 

And that was the end of that. Well, technically it wasn't, as the two pokemon were still very much involved in each other, forcing their owners to sit awkwardly next to each other and wait for them to be done. Eventually they did finish up, but even then they refused to be pulled away from each other, so the two trainers took turns carrying them in their arms like spoiled little children. 

Helmeppo didn't tell anyone other than the gym assistant that he was leaving (likely because admitting that his pokemon had spontaneously decided to mate for life with one of their opponents was too embarrassing to imagine), and without being able to defeat Smugleaf for the gym badge, Coby had no reason to stay any longer either. (He planned to catch another pokemon and have a go at fighting Helmeppo later down the line; hopefully that one wouldn't decide it wanted to fall in love, or he'd never get that badge.) So they shoved all of their essentials into a couple backpacks and hit the road. 

“This is going to be fun~!” Coby exclaimed, his cheeks rosy with anticipation. 

At this point, Helmeppo still couldn't quite decide if Coby was some sort of furry-voyeur or just an overly-innocent and excitable young kid ( _'Teenager? Heck, I don't even know.'_ ), but his enthusiasm was annoyingly catchy, and the farther they traveled, the more he found himself enjoying it all, and even not minding terribly when their pokemon decided they felt like being too close to each other for comfort. Maybe it was the freedom of traveling the world, the fantastic sensation of becoming steadily stronger, or the fact that he was becoming dependent on Coby's smile, but eventually Helmeppo found that he could hardly imagine life any other way. 

Until, of course, it turned out that little Coco really _was_ a girl, at which point Helmeppo suddenly had a very easy time of imagining life in another way: preferably, the sort of life in which he could sleep through a full night without a bunch of fluffy baby minccinos trying to use his face as a nest. 

THE END


End file.
